Today, at a Technology Market Summit held at American University, Commerce Secretary John Bryson and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson launched an environmental technology initiative to help create American jobs in the growing environmental industry.

The Environmental Technologies Export Initiative builds on President Obama’s National Export Initiative, which aims to double U.S. exports by the end of 2014 and support millions of American jobs.

As Secretary Bryson pointed out in his remarks at the event, the American environmental industry generates approximately $312 billion in revenues each year, with a global market of more than $800 billion. This growing industry employs nearly 1.7 million Americans and includes over 60,000 small businesses across the country.

The initiative will include a web-based tool, which is scheduled to be launched in the fall at export.gov. This will help environmental firms find the tools and information they need to sell their goods abroad.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Commerce are also partnering with trade associations to highlight potential growth opportunities for U.S. companies by increasing access to EPA’s company resources.

The Commerce Department is also leading efforts on the broader National Export Initiative. Just last year the U.S. hit an all-time record in exported goods and services- $2.1 trillion. In March of this year, exports increased by nearly 3 percent over the previous month. Export-supported jobs have also increased by 1.2 million from 2009 to 2011.

Today’s announcement is just the latest way that the Commerce Department, one of the global leaders in areas like environmental monitoring and water management equipment, is highlighting the important role that environmental technology plays in strengthening the National Export Initiative. To read more on Commerce’s work promoting environmental technology, visit http://www.export.gov/envirotech.